The two randomly chose a combat training room, and Han Xiao scanned his access permissions to open the door automatically before entering.
There are also differences in the configuration of combat training rooms; only high-configuration combat training rooms can withstand stronger combat aftershocks.
The low-configuration training room is open to ordinary legion members and legion players for free, and can only withstand Grade B power at most. If you want to use the high-configuration and _book_practical training room, you have to pay a rental fee. The rental fee will be discounted according to the member's status and level in the legion. Generally, players use the training room to farm skill experience.
The cadre training area and combat training room in the core base of the headquarters are equipped with the highest configuration, which is more than enough for Calamity Grade operations, but it is barely able to withstand the aftershocks of Beyond Grade A attacks. However, the two are simply sparring with a single vessel. As long as they control the power of their attacks and restrain their power a little, there will be no problem in the short term.
The top-of-the-line training room is spacious, with pure white floors and walls that have a grid-like appearance. The material is a composite of a tough alloy, polymer, and malleable nanomaterials, possessing self-healing capabilities. It is covered with a virtual reality coating, enabling virtual environment simulation.
Meanwhile, the walls and floors are movable, changing the shape of the room. Combined with the virtual Sensory Misdirection of the realistic environment, it can create a battlefield environment far exceeding the actual size of the room—provided that one is open-minded and accepts the Sensory Misdirection; otherwise, it is difficult to be effective.
Of course, the combat training room can also be used for some things that are not suitable for children. Han Xiao explicitly prohibited legion members (players) from occupying the training room to watch immersive movies in the Legion's "Training Room Usage Rules"... People want to hit the sandbag, but these people are just holding onto the sandbag and refusing to let go, occupying the toilet without doing their business. That's not allowed.
Han Xiao had Phillip randomly select an environment, and the appearance of the ground and walls quickly changed, transforming into a lush, blue-green forest. In the distance was an endless sea of trees and a distant mountain shrouded in mist, with only its halfway visible. The training room simulated a realistic wind, carrying the coolness of a morning rain, swirling the mist through the forest, causing the treetops to sway and rustle. One could also smell the fresh, damp air and the faint earthy scent, as if one were actually there.
"Spending all day with machines, seeing only somber colors, sometimes I even forget what nature looks like," Manison muttered to himself, looking around.
Han Xiao opened Secondary Dimension and pulled out a mechanical body. It was a streamlined humanoid body with a silver, black, and yellow shell. This was the "Mammoth" mechanical body, updated to the RX002 generation, with slightly different performance compared to the RX001 generation.
The RX001 Mammoth is a standard model with comprehensive capabilities and a relatively balanced performance. The RX002, on the other hand, reduced the size of its skeleton and nano-tendons, sacrificing some power output but increasing agility and adding more mechanical weapons, making it more suitable for combat.
The effect of [Dominator's Descent] will vary depending on the base configuration of the "vessel". Different "vessels" will share different abilities and attributes when they receive [Dominator's Descent], so it is necessary to create various types of mechanical bodies.
Han Xiao and the book immediately activated [Dominator's Descent], and blue-gold Mechanical Force shot out, striking the mechanical shell and bursting out with dazzling electric light!
Sizzle sizzle--
The consciousness split in two, one remaining in the body and the other controlling the mechanical shell.
Han Xiao's main body soared high into the air, not participating in the battle, and controlled his vessel to stand a few hundred meters opposite Manison. This distance was no different from face to face for them.
Han Xiao glanced at the carrier's panel. Because of the "First-Generation Black Star Alloy", the carrier shared several tanking specializations, with high resistance. In terms of attributes, it had a 64% strength bonus, about 81% agility bonus, and 73% stamina bonus.
Han Xiao manipulated the Mammoth mechanical body, twisting his neck to adjust. Then, the back armor cracked open, releasing miniature floating discs that formed a suspended defensive array. Psionic Energy ray cannons were exposed on his shoulders, chest, and abdomen. He raised his left arm, forming a shield-holding posture to maintain a Psionic Energy shield. A metal handle popped out from his right wrist, transforming into a high-level mechanical weapon resembling a longsword, the blade wrapped in energy, which he held in his hand.
Seeing this, Manison's vessel also entered combat stance, activating the floating array, activating the Psionic Energy shield, and taking out a long-handled melee mechanical weapon resembling a cane, leaning on the ground.
Using the Dominator's Descent sparring is equivalent to remotely controlling clones to fight; no matter how fiercely the mechanical bodies fight, neither side loses face.
Without exchanging many words, they stared at each other for two seconds, then their figures suddenly blurred, moved violently, and collided fiercely!
Bang!
The enormous impact created a shockwave, causing the surrounding trees to snap and fall under the realistic destruction effect, and even Han Xiao in the sky had his hair blown around.
The next moment, the two mechanical bodies became intertwined blurry afterimages, darting through the forest at incredible speed. The longsword and the cane collided thousands of times in a short period of time, sending sparks, light fragments, and electric arcs flying everywhere.
Ding ding ding!!
The sounds of wind, rain, and the clanging of metal all reached my ears.
The Mechanical Force clashed head-on, exploding into blinding arcs of electricity between them, leaving huge craters where they landed, piercing trees, igniting wildfires, and scorching the forest.
Both of them tacitly used close combat, restraining their fighting power and refraining from using high-powered ranged weapons. Otherwise, if they had engaged in a long-range artillery duel, the training room would definitely have been blown to bits.
The two sides were merely exchanging blows, not revealing their trump cards, and had no intention of determining a winner. After all, a mechanic's true combat strength is revealed only after deploying their mechanical legion.
Both were testing each other, trying to understand their opponent during the battle, and whoever gained more information would truly benefit.
While the battle raged, Manison was also sensing the intensity of Han Xiao's Mechanical Force.
At his level, he could roughly gauge Han Xiao's current strength with just a glance. Han Xiao's Mechanical Force strength was naturally far inferior to his, but Han Xiao's combat power was still quite different from what he had imagined, even surprising Manison.
He had heard of Han Xiao's feat of capturing Dilun at lightning speed, and based on his guess, Black Star should possess the same top-tier Mechanical Sense as him.
However, in actual combat, Manison discovered that Black Star's Mechanical Force strength was not as strong as he had predicted, and it seemed that he did not have top-level Mechanical Sense ability.
However, Han Xiao's life level was higher than he had imagined. Manison naturally knew the first limit of the 52,000 energy level. Simply crossing this limit was not enough to impress him and would not have surprised him. However, the reason for Manison's surprise was the comparison with the time it took for Black Star to become Beyond Grade A.
Black Star only reached Beyond Grade A in about a year and a half. In such a short time, he has already crossed the first threshold?!
The transformation of a life level to Beyond Grade A usually takes ten years!
This incredible growth rate is something Manison never seen before in all my years of life!
"Such potential and talent..."
Manison pondered to himself, such an unbelievable growth rate made Black Star's current combat strength lose most of its reference value.
However, upon learning that Black Star had broken through the first limit of Beyond Grade A, Manison felt that the purpose of the test had been achieved, and he believed that he had definitely gained from this test. He knew Black Star's exact strength level, while Black Star only knew that he was very strong, but did not know exactly how strong he was.
With this in mind, they clashed again, the high-frequency vibrations of their weapons repelling them. Manison sheathed his weapon and said:
"Let's stop here, or this room will be ruined."
Han Xiao also stopped, glanced at the pitted and uneven training room, and put away his weapon.
The main body landed, deactivated [Dominator's Descent], threw the mechanical shell back into the Secondary Dimension Army Box, and revealed a smile:
"As expected of the Mechanic Emperor, they are indeed very strong."
"I must say, your strength exceeds my expectations." Manison nodded.
Han Xiao smiled but didn't reply. Instead, he changed the subject, saying, "We've finished touring headquarters. Let's come to my office and continue our discussion about the Sorokin."
"Good."
The two left the training area and walked along the road. Han Xiao chatted casually while secretly opening the panel and repeatedly looking through the battle information from earlier.
Manison's level is marked with a question mark, indicating a significant gap. Therefore, most of his attributes and skills are also marked with question marks, but some are displayed, including abilities that the Mechanic Emperor had not used earlier.
Mechanics are known for having a wide range of skills, some of which overlap with their own and can be ignored. Among the unique abilities revealed by the Mechanic Emperor, Han Xiao saw two template specializations.
The first is [Perfect Mechanical Sense], which was within Han Xiao's expectations. As the pinnacle of mechanics, Manison must possess top-tier talent.
The other is [Virtual Technology Innovation - Manison], which is a name suffix indicating that it is an exclusive template specialty created by Manison. Its effect is to enhance virtual technology abilities, with an enhancement factor of 1.75x.
While it may seem inferior to the 2.5x enhancement of [Virtual Dominator], the two are completely different in meaning. Mechanics can obtain this feat as long as they learn the Ultimate Knowledge [Virtual Creator], while [Virtual Technology Innovation - Manison] is a completely exclusive ability, an additional bonus that gives Manison a huge advantage in virtual technology, falling into the category of template feats.
Furthermore, the description of this specialty states that it "possesses special effects after the Virtual Technology Innovation," which is likely the core specialty of Manison's elite legion, "The Immortal Mechanic Emperor."
Manison certainly has more than just two template specializations, but the panel only displays this many at the moment.
However, based on the battle information and comparing it with Manison's performance in his previous life, Han Xiao had a certain assessment of Manison's combat strength.
"Their main profession is at least one level higher than mine, they have at least four mechanical template specializations, plus a mechanical army hundreds or even thousands of times larger than mine... It's terrifying. It's best not to mess with them."
Overall, Han Xiao was quite satisfied with this probe; in terms of intelligence gains, he had profited.
The combat information on the panel revealed some of the Mechanic Emperor's hidden abilities, while Manison, without a panel and having not displayed any abilities, was naturally unknown to the Mechanic Emperor. At most, it revealed his own life level and realm—but this was originally Han Xiao's intention, to demonstrate a certain level of strength so that the Mechanic Emperor would not underestimate him.
Because of the character card, Han Xiao's displayed combat strength was misleading. For example, [Perfect Mechanical Sense] was not shown, and the information that Manison received was biased, making it impossible for him to see through Han Xiao.
Therefore, I not only didn't lose out in this intelligence exchange, but I actually made a huge profit.
The Mechanic Emperor chose the wrong opponent to test its strength against.
Han Xiao's lips curled into a smile.
The two, each with their own thoughts, arrived at the office.
After sitting down, Manison resumed explaining why he had come.
"Another reason I've come to visit you is to make a deal with you."
"Please speak."
"I'm quite interested in your Space-Time Amber. As far as I know, this Universal Treasure can create byproducts, and I'd like to purchase some from you for research."
I originally wanted to buy an amber ball...
Han Xiao pondered for a moment, then shook his head.
"I'm sorry, I don't plan to sell it to the public."
The Space-Time Amber was one of his trump cards. He gave the Austin Amber Sphere as a favor, and Han Xiao didn't intend to use it to profit from it, nor did he need to use it to curry favor with others. This thing was different from the Evolution Cube, and he didn't want the Amber Sphere to circulate in the universe and be used by others.
He wouldn't even supply the Crimson Dynasty, so naturally he wouldn't sell it to the Mechanic Emperor.
Manison held a superior position; while he might be given face, on such a crucial issue, no amount of face-saving could change that.
"That's a pity, but I understand."
Manison shook his head; his mechanical body revealed no expression, nor did his tone of voice change.
"If you ever change your mind, you can come back to me."
"The question about the Sorokin..." Han Xiao asked tentatively.
"Hehe, don't worry, I'll listen to the Federation of Light on this matter."
Manison brushed the topic aside lightly, seemingly unconcerned that Han Xiao had rejected him, and made no move to get up and leave.
At this moment, his tone suddenly changed:
"I have a subordinate in the Shattered Star Ring named Sedim. He once submitted a rather interesting report to me, saying that you once stole his mechanical legion and captured him for a period of time."
"... That's true, it was due to the circumstances at the time."
Han Xiao became wary again.
"Don't worry, since you didn't kill any of my men, there's nothing between us. It's just that it feels quite fate that we've crossed paths so far..."
Manison didn't seem to have any intention of retaliating.
However, his next words made Han Xiao's scalp tighten instantly!
"Speaking of our earliest encounter, this reminds me of something... Hehe, could you please return those two lost little ones to me?"
Manison's synthesized electronic voice was completely flat; although he was smiling, there was no genuine laughter in his voice.
The Mechanic Emperor actually knew about Aroshia?!
Han Xiao's scalp tingled, and he quickly composed himself, suppressing the turmoil in his heart, and spoke in a slightly somber tone:
"... What do you mean?"
"Long ago, two lucky AI lifeforms invaded my base. One stole one of my spare ships, and the other used my equipment to transform himself into Immortal Mechanical Soldier. They attempted to liberate their kind but were eventually discovered by the base's defenses and Pursuit by automated forces. Fortunately, they fell into a wormhole and ended up in your organization..."
At this point, Manison paused.
"You don't actually think that two AI lifeforms can infiltrate my base on their own, do you?"